


The Knot and Riddle

by HoundstoothStiletto



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Romance, Soulmates, Trope Subversion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27454474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoundstoothStiletto/pseuds/HoundstoothStiletto
Summary: It's impossible to know if you'll find your soulmate. Someone else who was born with the same tattoo on their body. The chances are one in a million.But Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian found each other. They also found their soulmates.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 16
Kudos: 41





	1. Prologue - Before the Omega 4 Relay

They weren't soulmates.

But the first time they were naked together, Shepard and Garrus found out their soulmate tattoos were in the same place.

Right inner knee.

Garrus had an irregular circle, which wasn't much to look at, he said. (Insisted really.) But hers?

Shepard was naked on her back, with her leg over Garrus Vakarian's shoulder. He studied the tattoo, utterly baffled. Humans? _Keepers?_

It's a riddle, she explained while trying to move her hips up closer to him. As if to say, come on big guy, we're not here for that.

Garrus steadied her movement. A riddle. Okay. Three figures. One was a human. The other two were human-like, but-

Shepard flipped him over, sitting on him with one leg still over his shoulder. His hand still inside her thigh.

"Hey," she smiled, rubbing her hands down his carapace, drinking the ridges and roughness and heat.

"Hey," he smiled back. "That's some flexibility you have there."

She giggled and bent down to kiss him. They had other things to get to.


	2. The Knot

"Still think you aren't into threesomes?" Shepard said, holding the playing vid in his face. 

_Deep breath, Vakarian._

He came up to her quarters to tell her something, but Commander Shepard was busy reviewing information from the Shadow Broker. A cooking demo. 

Two turian women (*gorgeous* turian women) were going to fry something. But first, they showed off their matching tattoos. Inside the elbow and base of the fringe. They're technically birthmarks, Marka said. (Marka was like that; the well-technically in the relationship. Qinc was the romantic one.) They were soulmates and in love. And also hosts of a popular cooking series. 

Their tattoos were identical to the ball Garrus had on his kner. A round knot. Garrus thought it was like a knot in wood, but Shepard insisted it was a knot of rope. His soulmates agreed. Rope it is. A braided ball of rope, tight and hard. 

"I know. I mean I saw them already," then quickly amended, "Just in the vid.That vid. Well a different vid with fruit but… well I knew."

Apart from riddle solving and texture debate, they didn't talk about their soulmarks. They didn't talk about what it meant. The reapers attacked, the galaxy was at war, and recently their sleeping together involved more sleep than sex. That was what they talked about.

Shepard didn't say anything. Her eyebrow and mouth both did a little twist. 

Most human communication is nonverbal. C-Sec had a whole class. Shepard's face said to keep talking. She wasn't angry, which his visor confirmed. Always good to have backup info.

"A few months ago my friend sent this to me. Well more of an ex-girlfriend than friend, but we had no problems and everything was amicable..."

At the time Garrus convinced himself it was wrong, even though he knew it wasn't. They were just similar looking marks, he messaged back. He couldn't imagine two mates. One was enough. Shepard was enough.

The war was new then. It was easy to forget in the context. He mostly forgot. Mostly by choice. Shepard was the only one for him. 

"Anyway. I know. And I don't care."

He reached out and waited for her to meet him. As all the research stressed, it's important to touch your human lover when talking about your relationship. Oxytocin. 

"I love you, Shepard," and she answered with his favorite nonverbal communication.

Smile as wide as possible. Chin down. Like she's smiling at her heart."I love you too, Garrus." 

She stepped into his arms, "But your soulmate. Soul _mates_. I want you to." She signed. "I want you to know your options," she whispered.

Was she nervous? Commander Shepard? The idea was flattering, but no. It must be stress. Being the fulcrum of a war is stressful. 

"Shepard, I know the, uh, evidence suggests otherwise, but I'm a one-human turian," then remembering her earlier comment added, "only you."

Just in case he wasn't clear, "no threesomes." 

"No threesomes," she agreed, for what was not the first time. Maybe third. 

They quickly kissed and she started to walk away to her terminal. But, Garrus still had something to tell her. 

_Deep breath Vakarian._

"I need to tell you something," he said and waved off what looked like panic in her eyes. Stress? He should find his class notes. 

"Garrus?"

Well, while we're talking about soulmates, I just found out yours is around too."

Go on, her face said. But maybe a little angry this time.

The visor confirmed. A bit angry. 

"It all started earlier today in the refugee camp...."

"No," she interrupted. "Tell me."

"I think it would be easier to explain."

"Tell me who it is," Commander Shepard commanded. A reminder that his sweet girlfriend is a badass spectre capable of staring down a colossal death machine from before time.

"Conrad Verner."

The stillness was tangible. 

"I'll explain now," he said quietly, breaking the delicate pause into so many pieces it evaporated. 

"It all started earlier today in the refugee camp...."


	3. The Riddle

"Garrus!" Conrad Verner shouted from the other side of the cargo hold. 

The turian being shouted at had just realized this was the docking bay he made one of his first arrests. Years ago. It's unrecognizable.

"Do you need help with the new dextro rations from Thessia? I already have the all the box numbers here,"Conrad walked towards Garrus quickly. Strides unnaturally long. A bit awkward, honestly. 

Garrus focused, coming back to the present. (The floor looked different even though he recognized it as the same. Shapiro was almost off the citadel when Garrus got her.) He had no idea what Conrad Verner was talking about.

He hadn't heard anything about rations from Thessia but new rations were good. To put it lightly. 

Even before the war, the turian population on the Citadel knew exactly how long their food would last. Every turian on a levo ship or planet knows how to manage their emergency rations, even when food is plentiful. 

Thus, Garrus needed to use more of his restraint than usual to not shoot Conrad Verner when he quietly said, "Thessia didn't send any rations, I just needed a cover to talk to you without too much attention."

As if yelling about food for refugees with minority dietary needs wouldn't get attention. 

"The rations are part of my cover too, but I made sure they were nutritious," he added. Either because he saw the rage in Garrus's face or because he would say that anyway. Conrad Verner's face didn't say anything. 

"There are rations, then," Garrus confirmed. 

"Keep it down, yes, I got them for the cover, " he whispered before loudly adding, "right this way!"

Garrus didn't care what this was a cover for. The important thing was food. 

As Conrad led, he went quiet again, "I don't know if the rumors are getting to you and Commander Shepard, but I'm on your side. Even if they're true," Conrad quietly said. 

Approaching the food, he put rumor follow up on his list. Very low on the list.

"Here they are," Conrad slapped a pallet. 

Garrus couldn't speak. All these? This was enough that it might as well have come from Thessia. 

There was everything. Meat, water, vitamins, baby food.

"Thank you," he managed. _Baby food_. Stress he didn't know existed melted. These rations were a miracle. There weren't enough words to describe the gratitude and relief. Thank you was all he could say. 

"Of course! I'm always happy to bring good news from the Asari!"

Whatever Conrad wanted, he could have. The rumors jumped to the top of the list. He would personally chase every piece of data to its source.

"Look, I'm sorry if I said it's true," Conrad rubbed his neck. "It's easy to believe, but it's not my business. And that's what I say. I tell the people on the boards to focus on more important things."

Conrad deserved honesty. So Garrus gave it to him and admitted, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. "

"Oh." Conrad paused, his face saying nothing. Conrad Verner's face would be in the advanced part of Human Nonverbal Communication class. 

"Well. The people on the boards are very invested in your relationship with Commander Shepard…WhateverItIs.

And there's a lot of speculation about what your. Well what your soulmarks are. And they take it far. I always go on and shut these conversations down and tell them it's disrespectful to assume two people are soulmates."

Garrus took Conrad's hand to shake it, trying to stop him from saying, "however obvious it is that you are soulmates." 

"Thank you for this. You just did a great thing for the Hierarchy and - " Garrus stopped. 

Not because he wasn't sure how to acknowledge a very awkward topic about soulmates. But, because there, inside Conrad Verner's arm was Shepard's tattoo. Birthmark. Soulmark. 

Conrad smiled shyly, pulled his sleeve down to cover it, and said, "yeah that's mine." A pause. Neither said anything.

With a chuckle, to break the tension Conrad pushed his sleeve up to flash the mark. He laughed, a little sadly and little hopeful, "have you seen anyone with this? I wouldn't mind finding my soulmate before this is over... like you and Commander Shepard found each other."

"I. Uh. I'll keep an eye out."

"I know it's unlikely, but I appreciate that man. You know. It's a riddle." 

_What has four legs in the morning, two during the day, and three in evenings?_

* * *

"Garrus!" Shepard interrupted and ended his explanation to give her own. "Conrad probably somehow saw mine and got it actually tattooed on him. You know he's obsessed with me."

Garrus smiled and didn't point out all the ways her theory fell apart. Or defend Conrad Verner. Both of which were very easy to do. 

She continued to mumble as she opened her terminal to work, "It's great what he did, but you had me seriously scared, of course he's not my soulmate…."

Relief warming and relaxing him all the way down. Shepard was in as much denial about finding her soulmate as he was when he saw his. 

"Of course," he said dryly, "what was I thinking?"

She didn't answer, saying words like "ridiculous" and "seriously" to herself. 

It wasn't over. There was a lot more to process and think about. But nothing left to say. 


	4. Epilogue - Peacetime

The war was over. Shepard killed all the Reapers and almost had a little apartment on Earth set up for when the Normandy returned. For Garrus, specifically. 

"They're hard to kill," was all she said to those who tried to tell her her crew was dead; the chances of survival were too low. 

As if being lost was more deadly than following her. As if near certain odds had a chance with her track record. 

Of course, the Normandy came back with her crew… not intact, but close enough. 

The reunion was unfortunately clinical. There was decontamination, headcounts, blood pressure checks, paperwork, excellent posture, and she needed to be aware of the reporters watching her greet every member of her crew. 

By the time she was alone with Garrus they were barely awake. At least she was able to take him to their new temporary home. 

Garrus immediately sat on their new bed, adjusting the best pillows spectre status could get. She collapsed next to him so dramatically they could both pretend she did it by choice. Not that they needed to pretend anymore. 

"You okay?" He asked her. It was the first thing he said to her since they were alone. There was too much and nothing to say.

"I need a few seconds," she made out between huffs, turning to him. To touch him. To hold him. It was so wonderful and a moment later when she felt his arms and hands holding her back it was almost too much. 

Whatever passed between them as their breathing pressed each other together was enough. 

It was time to sleep. They had a long night ahead, of waking up over and over to check on the other. Or so Shepard thought. 

"You know, some cultures don't believe that your soulmate is someone you're destined to love and be happy with.

Not that that isn't what your soulmate is. Necessarily. It's just easy for Asari to make  that generalization because. Well, I'm not going into asari culture dominating everyone else's. "

Sleepy Garrus paused. A question in the silence. "M awake" she answered.

She was not expecting him to bring this up. They hadn't talked about soulmates at all, since she dismissed his Conrad Verner theory. 

"Some believe that your soulmate is someone who will guarantee your success in life. If you meet them."

"Who believes that?" 

"The volus. That's not the point," he was fading. "Point is, maybe Conrad Verner gave you the extra umph to win the war. Your presence in his life certainly saved his more than once."

"My presence in his life is what nearly gets him killed," she kissed the first thing her lips found. His shoulder. He was sleeping. 

If Garrus wanted Conrad Verner to be her soulmate then she would let him. 

Anything for Garrus. And maybe those two soulmates of his might…could... 

No. Not yet. That could come later, if ever. They still had a lot to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I did it. I posted a fic all by myself.

**Author's Note:**

> I believe this is where I say I've never written fanfiction before, there is no beta, and I'm nervous.


End file.
